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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
The Garden of the Golden Children defies genre and traditional tropes in the most wonderful ways. It is lyrical and mysterious yet grounded in everyday events such as sharing meals and sitting through boring classes. There is a love triangle but one that never brings jealousy and bitterness into play. The evils are creeping and insidious and yet also prominent and ever present. It is narrative but also reads like a journal of roving musings. The heroines fight and defy what pursues them, not with swords and large gestures, but rather in doing what they can to retain their autonomy and through finding their voices.
I especially loved how Death and Time were personified and the mythology surrounding them was explored. I would have gladly read more about their relationship with one another and humanity.
My only complaint was that the author overused cliche physical descriptors. It seemed everyone's eye color was mentioned repeatedly and hair color as well. The term "Apple peel curls" is cute and worth using once, but I think I read it at least 3-4 times throughout. Simply stating her name would have been less distracting from the story itself and kept the whole thing flowing better.
I especially loved how Death and Time were personified and the mythology surrounding them was explored. I would have gladly read more about their relationship with one another and humanity.
My only complaint was that the author overused cliche physical descriptors. It seemed everyone's eye color was mentioned repeatedly and hair color as well. The term "Apple peel curls" is cute and worth using once, but I think I read it at least 3-4 times throughout. Simply stating her name would have been less distracting from the story itself and kept the whole thing flowing better.
i have never been more confused about how to rate a book in my life
What I Didn’t Like:
-Sometimes, be direct. A lot of this one is beautifully cryptic. While that works I would’ve liked a tiny bit more concrete in a few spots.
-I think I missed the point of the numbers. It felt like a page and a distraction I didn’t need.
-Content warning (not really a dislike, just a good heads up): child abuse and dark themes.
What I Did Like:
-Beautiful language. This one has no shortage of quotes you’ll remember and appreciate, saving them like small pieces of chocolate.
-Repetition. To be fair, I thought I was going to hate this. There are little sections in the book that appear to make no sense: they don’t fit the story and they seem to come out of nowhere. But then they come back and the meaning behind them sort of drops into place with a click and they’re just amazing.
-Line breaks work. This book sort of experiments with blank space in a fantasy story. It makes the story poetic, in a way. I love poetry so this really worked for me!
Who Should Read This One:
-Book clubs! This would be an AMAZING one for discussing with friends.
-If you like fantasy, poetry, and literary works this is THE BOOK for you!
My Rating: 3 stars. This one is a little niche as it blends lyrical language into fantasy but if that’s your niche this will be an unmatched favorite.
-Sometimes, be direct. A lot of this one is beautifully cryptic. While that works I would’ve liked a tiny bit more concrete in a few spots.
-I think I missed the point of the numbers. It felt like a page and a distraction I didn’t need.
-Content warning (not really a dislike, just a good heads up): child abuse and dark themes.
What I Did Like:
-Beautiful language. This one has no shortage of quotes you’ll remember and appreciate, saving them like small pieces of chocolate.
-Repetition. To be fair, I thought I was going to hate this. There are little sections in the book that appear to make no sense: they don’t fit the story and they seem to come out of nowhere. But then they come back and the meaning behind them sort of drops into place with a click and they’re just amazing.
-Line breaks work. This book sort of experiments with blank space in a fantasy story. It makes the story poetic, in a way. I love poetry so this really worked for me!
Who Should Read This One:
-Book clubs! This would be an AMAZING one for discussing with friends.
-If you like fantasy, poetry, and literary works this is THE BOOK for you!
My Rating: 3 stars. This one is a little niche as it blends lyrical language into fantasy but if that’s your niche this will be an unmatched favorite.
A dreamlike experience where threads weave together in ways you might sort of see coming, but probably not exactly those ways.
Stylistically it's sort of like prose poetry, melding abstract with concrete nicely. It almost feels in places like it's calling up the style of old epics, what with the Iliad-like way several characters have descriptive quasi-epithets by which the narrative calls them (Kal is he of the seafoam eyes, Ofelia is the appleskin curls).
I did have some issues with the formatting of the ebook - I tried both on my Kindle and on the Kindle app on my phone, but in both cases there was a bit of weird spacing and some odd instances where it just seemed to forget what page I was on. Fortunately, it's only a very short book, so getting back to the right place wasn't hard!
Stylistically it's sort of like prose poetry, melding abstract with concrete nicely. It almost feels in places like it's calling up the style of old epics, what with the Iliad-like way several characters have descriptive quasi-epithets by which the narrative calls them (Kal is he of the seafoam eyes, Ofelia is the appleskin curls).
I did have some issues with the formatting of the ebook - I tried both on my Kindle and on the Kindle app on my phone, but in both cases there was a bit of weird spacing and some odd instances where it just seemed to forget what page I was on. Fortunately, it's only a very short book, so getting back to the right place wasn't hard!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
I was offered a last minute review copy to judge for the Indie Ink Awards for the categories of Best Setting and Mental Health Rep. I agreed to help them finish up judging, and I enjoyed it!
The setting is a cool/silly take on the idea that everyone is somewhere, therefore the town is called Somewhere, while other places are Somewhere-Else. The children go to the Academy, and at this academy they are overseen by the headmaster. He’s a little off, but he is, of course, from Somewhere-Else.
The novella itself is about Ellis and her struggle with opening up, , love, loss, grief, and defiance in the face of abuse. The novel deals with dark content that consistently stands in her way. Her struggle, as well as the golden children, are heavily metaphoric. Nothing is black and white, but the author does a good job with the presentation of what’s happening. To avoid being more spoilery, I won’t say more!
The only nitpick I have is that some of the formatting was a little weird/off. The paragraphs were double—and sometimes triple—spaced in a way that didn’t really make sense to me. I think if the shifting between story, diary like notes from Ellis, and world-building lore stories, we’re separated more, it would have made more sense between what was being read.
Enjoyable and deep. Personally a 3/5* for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
"Even in their most tragic moments, humans can be marvelously resilient."
This story was hauntingly beautiful. It's one of those books that is confusing to start and then everything comes together in this terrifying way and things that you thought seemed innocent are anything but. There are so many incredible quotes that I couldn't help but highlight. They underline the innocence of children and the deep pain that trauma can inflict upon them. Well written indeed, I look forward to reading it again.
This story was hauntingly beautiful. It's one of those books that is confusing to start and then everything comes together in this terrifying way and things that you thought seemed innocent are anything but. There are so many incredible quotes that I couldn't help but highlight. They underline the innocence of children and the deep pain that trauma can inflict upon them. Well written indeed, I look forward to reading it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Death, Sexual assault
This book deals with a very heavy topic (child abuse) and it will slam you right in the chest with beautiful words and a haunting world and make you feel everything. Whether you want to or not. I could not put this down, even if I wanted to, even if I didn't want to read what was going to happen. The way the text was put together, the way the stories were interwoven, I am sure I could read this again and again and find different connections. Heavy content wrapped in beautiful words.
4.5 stars
I spent some time confused, possibly because of the ebook format on my phone and not understanding the “thoughts” section until the very end, but this was really good! I think this is definitely going to haunt me for a bit. Not for the faint of heart, and I appreciate the content warnings in the beginning. I loved the imagery in this, which is something I think gets lost in a lot of novels nowadays. Well done.
I spent some time confused, possibly because of the ebook format on my phone and not understanding the “thoughts” section until the very end, but this was really good! I think this is definitely going to haunt me for a bit. Not for the faint of heart, and I appreciate the content warnings in the beginning. I loved the imagery in this, which is something I think gets lost in a lot of novels nowadays. Well done.
This book just broke my heart. Hutchinson wrote an endearing fantasy tale that allows for a fade-to-black discussion about child abuse. Her poetic prose and experimental writing style work in tandem to allow for such intimate storytelling.
I really don't want to say more due to spoilers, but, if you're okay to read on the subject of child abuse, I highly recommend 'The Garden of the Golden Children.'
I really don't want to say more due to spoilers, but, if you're okay to read on the subject of child abuse, I highly recommend 'The Garden of the Golden Children.'